It was always going to be a little ambitious reporting on our coverage monthly, and as 2016 has been as busy, if not busier than any other year so far, we’ve failed spectacularly to shout from the rooftops about the ongoing coverage we’ve been enjoying across the widest-read online 3D printing publications.

At Robox we’re always trying to use our imaginations to secure coverage which is a little different and an opportunity came up last month to get involved in an event run by UK Coffee Week. The Robox team were keen to get involved and so designed some unique limited edition coffee stencils of Stephen Fry’s face to be distributed during the week. Luckily for us, this also resulted a nice bit of exposure online too.

In addition to quirky ‘stunts’ and piggybacking news events we’re also passionate about getting Robox more established in the education sector. We’re already making great progress with the 3D printer now present in many schools across the UK and we’re working closely with the James Dyson Foundation to promote STEM in schools. This is why MD Chris Elsworthy was more than happy to be interviewed by Education Technology for a piece on technology and innovation in the classroom.

And of course, part of the reason we’ve been so busy this year is following our attendance at CES and the launch of the dual material head, which is currently being rolled out to loyal customers who placed back-orders – both of which secured a wealth of good coverage.

The skills of our in-house service technicians extend far beyond expectations on a daily basis here at Robox HQ, and indeed this past couple of weeks our very own Martin Moore demonstrated his CAD capabilities once again by creating 3D hawks and owls for an international media story (his previous skills saw Jeremy Clarkson depicted as a ‘Hungry Hippo’)

The purpose of the prints was to capitalise on the world-wide hatred for pigeons and in doing so, demonstrate the capabilities and day-to-day uses of the Robox.

Martin set about designing the birds from scratch, his only brief was to create these known enemies of the pigeon so that people could print them off and place them on ledges outside their windows or in their gardens to scare pigeons away; we wanted them to be useful, funny and decorative.

And now all the hard work has been done for pigeon-haters across the world as the designs are now available to print from myminifactory.com.

Already the story is gaining traction, with The New York Observer being the first to cover the news:

“A 3D printing company may have just launched one of NYC’s most successful advancements in the fight against pigeons.

A company called Robox created 3D printing designs for pigeon scarecrows that have already proved successful at keeping away the urban birds.

The designs include an owl and a hawk, both printed at a smooth resolution of .2mm. Robox themselves have been printing the mock predatory birds with PLA-composit and placing them around the city. They’ve found that pigeons are so frightened by the watchful and intimidating gazes of the 3D printed birds that even the incentive of food isn’t enough to convince stray pigeons to stick around in their presence.

3DPrint.com also followed suit, illustrating just how annoying these birds can be to city dwellers:

“The human population of New York City is fed up with the population of pigeons. Flat out. Finally. How to battle them, without bringing on legions of PETA members? And what might scare a pigeon? How about the thought of a bird of prey snatching them up in their claws, carrying them away to their city lair? Or a predatory hawk? Pigeons don’t stand a chance. At least that’s what the folks at CEL, who created the Robox 3D printer, want them to think, as they’ve used 3D printing to employ an age-old method: the scarecrow.

Soon, you may be seeing colorful 3D printed birds of prey scattered around areas heavily infested with pigeons, who will have no choice but to flee to other cities with less creative and technologically savvy citizens. The 3D printed predatory birds can be placed on the ground in city parks to thwart the scavenging, pooping pigeons, and can also be placed on decks, window ledges, doorsteps, and a variety of other platforms.”

Chris talks about 3D printers in education and getting some value from “screen time” which accounts for a long periods of spare time for many children, typically in games. Chris suggests that more of this time could be spent learning the skills they will use in later life and 3D printers can be a link between the virtual creations of our children and reality. This is certainly evident in the new offering from the Tinkercad folk in Tinkerplay which is aimed directly at getting children into design by making it really fun.

A kit that includes all the parts you need to turn Robox into a dual material system.

The Dual Material head consists of 2 independently controlled heated nozzles each with the unique Robox needle valve control system. Also included is a 2nd extruder which is very easy to install in your Robox and a reel holder which will feed the 2nd material.